ALEXANDER MACKIE AND MARGARET DOIG MARRIAGE

[vnicholson]

Hi, im looking for marriage between alexander mackie and margaret doig at St andrews and st leonards church in fife area, dont know exact year but they had their first child in about 1768 so i assume it was before then, any help much appreciated, thanks
vikki

[Little Nell]

There two children showing born in Leith prior to 1768.  Have you looked there?  There seem to be others.  Perhaps they were only briefly in St Andrews.

Where did you find the information on the St Andrews baptism?

Nell

[vnicholson]

hi,sorry didnt reply last night just had to switch off the computer as i was getting square eyes!
I'm researching the mackie family for my sons school community week at the end of the month and what started as pulling together a few bits and pieces has turned into a full blown research project (my son attends Mackie hill J&I school, crigglestone, wakefield). I'd got as far back as David mackie b.abt1769 scotland d.1824 holy trinity wakefield but couldnt find his parents. I stumbled across a doicument that said his parents were Alexander mackie and margaret doig and that he was the 2nd of 9 children but it was not proof so I put alexander and margarets name into ancestry and it came up with a one world tree that gave the names of his siblings. I scribbled down the name of the church where they supposedly married but in my haste didnt write down where i read it. I figured that if i could find the marriage (havent found yet) it might open up other research areas and also if could find their burials any gravestone might list childrens names or that some of the children may have been buried with them. I'm pretty sure that alexander and margaret doig were davids parents but i need to prove it, more digging required!

[Forfarian]

I put alexander and margarets name into ancestry and it came up with a one world tree that gave the names of his siblings.

Oh dear

Ancestry is not proof!

Please don't ever believe anything you find in an online family tree. Use it as a pointer to research, but make sure to track down and view all the relevant original documents for yourself. Many trees are fine, but unfortunately there are also many which are pure fantasy driven by wishful thinking.

Also, in Scotland in the 18th century it was the exception rather than the rule for a wedding ceremony to be held in the church building. If a document you have found says the marriage was in St Andrews and St Leonards, this just means it was in the parish of St Andrews and St Leonards in Fife, not necessarily in the church.

You can view the originals of the children's baptisms at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk at modest cost - the index there lists 9 between 1765 and 1790, one in Fife in 1775 and the rest in Midlothian. If the baptism records include details of witnesses, these may give a clue to the parents' families.

There is a Mackie-Doig marriage in St Andrews and St Leonards in 1761, but the couple are James and Mary. I have come across Mary being written by mistake for Margaret, usually via the abbreviation Marg mistranscribed as Mary, but it would take a throughly muddled parish clerk to write James instead of Alexander, so the probability is that this is a different couple.

[vnicholson]

thanks for that and dont panic, as i said im only going on the snippets that ive found to point me in the right direction hopefully or give me a lead, i dont put my trees online im a purist and like them on paper, I have not added alexander and margaret and their children to my tree for exactly the reason you said - i do not have proof! My job now is to prove it or otherwise. I dont take anything i find on others family trees as gospel unless I have proven it myself, I'm not a wishful thinker and am very thorough - hence why im following the alexander and margaret lead for now, if it gets me somewhere great, if it doesnt then i know its wrong and I'm only back to where I started,   thanks

vikki

[jackiemc]

There is a record on Family search for David Mackie born 26 Apr 1769, baptised 30 Apr 1769 in South Leith. Parents are listed as Alexander Mackie and Margaret Doig.

Jackie

[Forfarian]

There is a record on Family search

Sorry to be picky, but what is on FamilySearch is not a record, in spite of what it says. It is an index entry to help with finding the original record. FamilySearch is an absolutely fantastic finding aid, but some of the information there is 'submitted' or 'contributed', and it is just as unreliable as anything similarly submitted to Ancestry or any other similar site.

[jackiemc]

I know it is not a record but as it was there I felt it was something worth looking into. I am only too well aware of falling into the trap of accepting what is on Family search without confirming the record.

[vnicholson]

Me too, its a lead worth following even if it gets me nowhere, thanks for all your help guys.